Takeaways from UAB’s 25-23 Win Over MTSU

UAB came away with another impressive win at home on Saturday 25-23 over Middle Tennessee.

A back-and-forth game saw the Blazers come out on top to improve to 4-2 on the year and 2-1 in Conference USA play.

Here are a few takeaways from the game:

Resiliency: That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of UAB football right now. They’ve now had back-to-back weeks where they’ve been underdogs and came away with this upset. Neither game was easy, but UAB found ways to win. Those are signs of a resilient team, and we shouldn’t expect any less from a Bill Clark coached team.

Turnovers and penalties: Both were crucial in this game as MTSU threw two interceptions and committed 10 penalties for 88 yards. UAB threw one interception and had eight penalties for 73 yards. The turnover and penalty yard difference definitely affected the outcome of this game.

Defensive stops: Both defenses shut things down in the second half, but UAB’s defense got it done in the fourth quarter when we had to have it. After MTSU opened the second half with a field goal to regain the lead, the UAB defense shut them down the rest of the way, giving our offense a chance to win the game. They only had one three-and-out in the second half, but they didn’t break on defense. They also got a huge interception in the fourth quarter to help UAB run out the clock.

Workhorse running back: It’s become more evident the last few games that UAB now has a workhorse running back. That was even clearer on Saturday when Spencer Brown got 31 carries for 167 yards. I’m certainly OK with this new development and hope the trend continues because that means UAB is running the football successfully.

This was far from a perfect game from UAB, which is scary (in a good way), but we continue to learn more about this team each week.